Urban League: Employment rate lowest for Blacks in U.S.

Recent report details major racial disparity

A recent report from the National Urban League says underemployment is a bigger obstacle for Blacks than it is for whites and Hispanics.

Morial

While unemployment has been a major obstacle to Blacks’ economic progress, the underemployment rate is even higher. The annual State of Black America report says the underemployment rate for Black workers was 20.5 percent, compared with 18.4 percent for Hispanics workers and 11.8 percent for whites.

By definition, underemployment is those who are jobless, and those working part-time jobs but desiring full-time work. The report, titled, “One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America,” recorded that Blacks are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. Blacks unemployment rate for Blacks was 12 percent in Feb, compared to 5.8 percent for whites.

“Many Americans are being left behind and that includes African-Americans and Latinos who are being disproportionately left behind by the job creation we see,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said.

As this information relates to Miami-Dade County, the overall unemployment rate as of February shrank by 13,037 workers, according to the state unemployment report. The number of jobs in Miami-Dade also dropped by 8,331 in the last month.

The number of people in Miami-Dade County on unemployment insurance also dropped by 4,707 which helped send the unemployment rate down to 6.7 percent.

In Broward County, there was an overall job gain from January to February, even though the unemployment remained the same at 5.4 percent. The workforce did grow by 12,645 workers month over month and 11,704 jobs were added.

The National Urban League is pushing for a number of economic measures, that will include an increase in the minimum wage, a matter being debated in Congress.